The Willow and The Leather (15 April, 2005)

Silly Point
15 April, 2005

These are the times when Prince of Kolkata finds the earth is shifting under his feet. As with other great cricketers he is emotional, arrogant and to a point foul. It remains to be seen how long BCCI will continue to support him. But he is hardly in a position to take account of his situation as BCCI already ruled him out of 5th ODI against Pakistan when his appeal to lift his 6 match ban is still pending with ICC. Perhaps time has come for Sourav Ganguly to call it a day before it’s too late, before he is forced to do so.

Remember Steve Waugh? Ganguly can do the same and get a red carpet farewell himself and save the embarrassment for everyone.

On the other hand Inzamam-ul Haq is finding the time very suitable for his liking. Like roaring tigers Pakistan have done well to bounce back, drew the 3 Test series 1-1 and then from being 0-2 down in the ODI series, now they are up by 1 making it 3-2 with one more ODI to be played, and all signs around the horizon indicates they might pull off another stunner and could very well make it a sweep. After all, the Pakistan on the rise can rise very far.

The bad boy of Aussie cricket Shane Warne was caught with his pants down in Hampshire. It could be that he was just adjusting his pants in the middle of nowhere only to be found caught off the guard. But given his notorious not so distant past one wonders what the devil was he up to? Talking innocent sex talks over the phone and being prepared to perform it out in the open are quite two different matters altogether which proves these people ought be where they belong, namely a loony bin.

Brian Lara is back and he is back with a bang narrowly missing his double century (196) against South Africa in the second Test match in Trinidad and Tobago’s Queens Park Oval. A great cricketer of his calibre, Lara often found himself in the rough waters of troubled West Indies Cricket Board. But such is the ways of great men, they go there own way and be damned by the common fools who can hardly fathom the genius, such as, Brian Lara. We welcome him back and can say, “Please carry on Lara, don’t deprive us of your great entertainment! Let us be amused!”

New Zealand’s own pride Stephen Fleming is not far behind when it comes to sing the blues. He is all for boycotting the tour of Zimbabwe because the information that he is “reading” suggests him it is absolutely unwise to go there and play some cricket. Who can blame him though? The bombs do have a liking to go off when the New Zealanders are in town!

Another Steve is back in business, this time Tikolo has taken the charge of Kenyan cricket team to play some good old cricket against Uganda in Kampala. Tipped to be the next Test playing nation, ICC yet to show Kenyans some signs of goodwill. What is better some cricket or no cricket? Instead of playing ODI or longer version of the game against some quality teams, Kenya has no choice but to play in a certain Intercontinental Cup. This is not how you prepare the next cricketing nation about to set foot in the BIG stage!

High profile Bangladesh coach Dav Whatmore has become more the smarter indeed. In a timely fashion Whatmore has shown his interest in becoming next Indian coach and thus repaid his gratitude to BCB (who paid for his expensive trip to Australia during Bangladesh tour of West Indies in June, 2004 to attend his brother-in-law’s funeral leaving the job at hand completely neglected). As the so-called Bangladesh cricket fans sigh and whine elsewhere on a distant planet, one can only suppose BCB has no choice but to accept the bait and pay even higher a price and a lucrative bonus!